Plot: Dan Gallagher, a New York City corporate lawyer, and Beth Gallagher are happily married, with a six year old daughter named Ellen. When Beth and Ellen leave town for what ends up being an extended weekend, Dan, regardless, falls into a sexual liaison with Alex Forrest, a woman he has just met. She is a new associate editor at one of Dan's firm's client agencies. As Alex knows about Dan's marital situation, Dan enters into the liaison with the unspoken understanding that it is no-strings and will end no later than when Beth and Ellen return home at the end of the weekend. He feels comfortable enough with the situation when he and Alex entered into it mutually initiated as he has no reason to see Alex in his day to day life. As the end of the weekend approaches, it becomes increasingly clear to Dan that Alex wants to continue their relationship, she using different means to achieve her goal, including being passive-aggressive toward him, and emotional blackmail. Conversely Dan wants to protect the current life he has with Beth and Ellen, which means Beth not finding out about Alex. As Dan does whatever he can to dissuade Alex, Alex also goes to new extremes to keep Dan, her actions which may possibly include harm to herself, to Dan and most importantly to Beth and Ellen, all in an effort to show him that she will "not be ignored".
Alternative Plot: For Dan Gallagher (Michael Douglas), life is good. He is on the rise at his New York law firm, is happily married to his wife, Beth (Anne Archer), and has a loving daughter. But, after a casual fling with a sultry book editor named Alex (Glenn Close), everything changes. Jilted by Dan, Alex becomes unstable, her behavior escalating from aggressive pursuit to obsessive stalking. Dan realizes that his main problem is not hiding his affair, but rather saving himself and his family.
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